2011 NBA Finals: The One Finals Series LeBron James Wants You To Forget

LeBron James has arguably been the best player in the NBA for about ten years now. Ever since his debut in the league, LBJ showed the league how talented he is. Be it his impeccable vision or his varied scoring ability, the King can do it all.

After being drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, James transformed Cavs’ fortunes as he led them to multiple playoff appearances. In his fourth season itself, he led the team to an NBA Finals appearance. But the Cavs did not build around this massive success.

While the King did stick around for three more seasons, but understandably, he grew frustrated with the organisation. He ultimately left Cleveland and joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami Heat to form a super-team.

LeBron James’ disastrous NBA finals

Once LBJ joined D-Wade and Bosh in the Heat, they became arguably the most hated team in the league at that point. The Heat looked in disarray initially. Playing with two of the best guards in the league, Miami struggled to generate offense.

A lack of a prominent center also hurt the team as they slipped to a record of 9 wins and 8 losses in their first 17 games. But the Heat came back to their prime form after that, as they had 21 wins in their last 22 games.

The Heat only grew stronger from there as they ended up with a record of 58 wins and 24 losses, only trailing the Bulls for the best record in the East. They steam-rolled past everyone in the Eastern Conference, losing only a total of three games on their way to the Finals.

Playing against a Dallas Mavericks side led by Dirk Nowitzki, the Heat were the clear favorites going into the matchup. It started off great for Miami as LBJ led the team in scoring with 24 points. It looked like they were headed for a routine series win.

But things changed in the second game as the Mavs made a comeback and equalled the series. It went all downhill from there for James. While the Heat did pull one game back, ‘the King‘ was clearly struggling to make his impact. In fact, he couldn’t score more than 8 points in game 4.

The Mavs ultimately ousted the Heat in six games with LeBron averaging a career low 17.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game in the series.

This was even more startling to see, as James was at the peak of his powers and was expected to be the superstar in the team.

‘King James’ redeems himself with the Heat

After their disappointing loss at the hands of the Mavericks, the Heat knew they had to work on themselves. Miami knew they had the necessary talent to win a championship.

More than the team, King James had to make a massive comeback to prove his greatness. Going up against a talented OKC Thunder side with the core of Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and James Harden, the Thunder looked like a team who could pull off an upset.

But LeBron and Co. had other plans. They were absolutely dominant in the series and ultimately won the championship in five games. James was clearly the standout player in the series as he averaged 28.6 points, 10.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game.

The Heat were unstoppable yet again in the 2012-13 season. Playing against a stacked San Antonio Spurs team, James and Co. had to bring their ‘A game’ to the table. While the odds were stacked against them, Miami pulled through.

With an iconic Ray Allen game winner, the Heat equalled the series to 3-3. In game seven, the Heat knew one of their stars had to put on a show. LBJ did just that as he scored a whooping 37 points, absolutely killing the Spurs with his dagger threes.

LeBron James surely redeemed himself with the Heat and ultimately left the team after their second finals loss to the Spurs. LBJ is still going strong, having added two more titles to his ever-increasing trophy cabinet and is in the pursuit to win his fifth title with the Lakers this season.